Weaving looms having patterning mechanisms have long been employed in the textile industry to selectively position warp yarns and fill yarns in the warp sheet during weaving operations to form a desired pattern in the woven fabric produced on the loom. In a jacquard pattern-controlled loom, a desired fabric pattern is recorded as a series of holes in pattern cards of the jacquard head motion. During weaving, these cards are moved past card cylinder sensing devices which activate griff racks to lift selected harness cords connected to yarn guides of the loom to move selected of the yarns in desired positions during the weaving operation.
One such jacquard pattern control loom manufactured by Crompton & Knowles of Charlotte, North Carolina is identified as an OFS (outside filling supply) loom, in which filling yarns from supply packages of yarn of different color or composition, up to four in number on either of the warp yarn sheet, are selectively supplied to the warp shed in a desired sequence controlled by the jacquard cards and harness cords to form the pattern in the woven fabric. In the outside filling supply loom, the individual filling yarns from the supply packages are guided to individual yarn gripper elements or fingers mounted on a movable support hand located adjacent each end of the path of traverse of the filling yarn carrier through the warp yarn shed. Each of the hands and their corresponding gripper fingers are mechanically moved by a series of levers, cams, and gears known in the art as a color conrol box mechanism, which is actuated by electrical signals to present a selected gripper finger and its fill yarn to the fill yarn carrier for each pick, or fill yarn, insertion into the warp shed.
The electrical signals to the control box devices on each side of the loom are initiated in accordance with fill yarn pattern information on the jacquard pattern cards. A jacquard harness control cord for each of the eight fill yarn package supply positions (four on each side of the loom) is connected by a sliding rod attachment to one of four mechanical lever arms and four corresponding latch members engagable with the other ends of the lever arms. Movement of the lever arms and retention and release by their latch members move four elongate push rods to operate four pivotable elements which respectively engage four micro-switches. The four micro-switches are in turn electrically connected to activate one or more of eight color control box solenoids, four on each control box device located on each side of the warp yarn sheet. Depending on the sequence of activation of the box solenoids, the four filling yarn gripper fingers on each support hand are selectively positioned adjacent the reciprocating fill yarn carrier to present a desired fill yarn to the carrier at each end of its passage through the warp shed. On the Crompton & Knowles OFS jacquard loom, the mechanical linkage mechanism translating movement of the control cords into electrical signals to the solenoids of the color control box devices is known as a Model 100 indicator.
In the past, difficulties have been experienced in operation and utilization of the above-described mechanical linkage indicator for transmitting harness cord motion into electrical signal information to the color control box devices of the fill yarn supply. Because of the high speed, rapid movement of the mechanical elements of the indicator, the levers, control rods, and latch components wear, become misaligned, deteriorate, and sometimes break during the controlling operation. The linkage mechanisms further are biased by springs which return them to initial positions after activation by the control cords of the jacquard head motion, and these springs often wear and break after a continued period of use. In addition, the micro-switches actuated by the mechanical rods and pivotable elements often break or electrically malfunction, all requiring frequent replacement with consequent down time and unreliability of operation of the loom.
Further, since electrical power is continuously supplied to the control box solenoids when they are activated by the micro-switches, and since the looms are often stoppped for periods of time during weaving operations to replace and repair broken yarn ends, the control box solenoids activated during such periods of loom stoppage excessively heat-up, burn out, and present an ever-present fire hazard.